


Once We Were Titans

by Yrien



Category: City of Heroes
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Original Player Characters, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-04-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 17:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1396438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrien/pseuds/Yrien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my 2013 National Novel Writing Month effort.  I am slowly working on editing and posting it, as I promised my COH supergroup (PCSAR).</p><p>This story follows Sera Ash, a patroller who was previously a member of the Paragon City Search and Rescue supergroup.  It's been one year since the Battalion's surprise attack reduced Paragon City to ruins. The world, and the superhero community, is struggling to rebuild when a new threat looms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> City of Heroes was an important game to me. I met many friends through this game, and was heartbroken when it was cancelled. I wanted to write something, and finally decided on a "one year later" sort of fic, exploring what's happening in (my version of) the world one year on. Thanks to the information provided by the developers, we know that they were building towards an attack by the alien collective known as the Battalion. I chose to take that idea and run with it!

It was a beautiful late-August day, with the sun high overhead in a cloudless blue sky and a light breeze that kept it from being too hot. It should have been a lovely day, but Sera wished she could be anywhere else. The crowd around her shifted and murmured quietly, individual voices lost in the throng. Sera tucked herself closer to the sturdy plastic wall of the pre-fabricated building beside her and pushed her sunglasses up her nose as they threatened to slip down, just one more anonymous face in the crowd.

Somewhere ahead of her was a broad stage, but it was mostly hidden by the press of thousands of bodies around her. She was too short to see it well from her vantage point, but she knew that it was currently only occupied by a long row of chairs and a single microphone stand. It wasn't too much longer before Sera heard the buzz of excitement that swept back through the crowd as the guests of honour made their way to the stage.

The first person to climb the stairs was dressed in a sombre black suit, even in the heat of the late-morning sun. The first dozen or so people were similarly dressed, probably politicians and businessmen and the like, but the sudden excited clamour from the crowd was an early warning that the next people to step onto the stage were nothing of the sort.

A giant of a man, easily eight feet tall and sporting blue skin and short, mint-green hair dwarfed all the black-suited officials as he stepped onto the stage. Red-orange flames glowed from his eyes, visible even in the bright sunlight. He was also wearing black, but his was form-fitting costume with a dull sheen to it that covered him completely from the neck down but still clearly showed the bulging muscles in his arms and legs as he took his seat. He chose the chair at the end of the row and shifted it slightly away from his neighbour so that he had room for his massive shoulders.

Those that followed him stood out as well. There was a young woman in a deep grey pencil skirt and black blouse who had a pair of purple ram's horns curling up out of her short black hair, and a tiny woman with bright red hair who looked overwhelmed by the size of the crowd, her gossamer wings fluttering nervously behind her as she flitted up into her seat. She had on pair of black pants and a purple blouse, the colours vibrant against her milk-pale skin. Another tall man, though much thinner than the first, had a bald head and cracked black and red skin that looked like it would be hot to the touch like coals in a fire. He was wearing a black suit similar to the big man's, though this one left his hands and arms uncovered. The last one to take to the stage was a short and slender young man with tidy blond hair and sunglasses hiding his eyes. He was wearing a grey suit with a white shirt and a bright orange tie. Sera's lips turned up slightly at the sight of it.

All told, there were two dozen men and women seated on the stage, half of them visibly different in appearance or dress. Sera pushed her sunglasses up her nose again, pressing tight to the wall beside her for support. She knew them all. It was impossible not to, with the superhero community now so small.

The first man glanced behind him to make sure that everyone was seated, and stepped up to the microphone. A brief squeal of feedback brought startled exclamations from the crowd before the man started speaking.

"Good morning." The speakers placed around the square amplified his voice, but by now the crowd was so quiet that Sera wondered if they were really necessary. "I would like to thank you all for coming. Your presence here is a tribute to the unbreakable spirit of all the citizens of Earth." He cleared his throat, glancing down at his notes. "First, I should introduce myself. I am Vincent Lyon, the interim mayor. Mayor Morales, like so many others, was killed one year ago.

"On this date, the first anniversary of the devastating attacks that marked the start of the Battalion War, we join our global compatriots in remembering those that were lost on August thirtieth, two thousand and twelve." He paused, sweeping his eyes across the silent crowd. Only a quickly-muffled cough broke the stillness. "Everyone here has lost someone. Everyone here has suffered over the past year. It is my hope that we will be able to put our losses behind us. Not forget them, because such a thing should never be forgotten. But with time, all wounds heal. One year ago, we saw destruction unlike anything we have ever seen before. Not even the Rikti invasions brought about such devastation. But we did not break. We stood against the monsters that were at our door. We showed that Earth is not so easy a target as they thought."

Vincent paused as a few shouts and a smattering of applause rolled through the crowd. He waited until silence fell, or at least as silent as a crowd several thousand people could be. Sera found that her hands had curled into fists, and quickly jammed them into her pockets to hide the way they shook. One year ago, she had been one of the first responders to arrive at Paragon City after the Battalion had attacked. Or rather, where Paragon City had been. Most of it had been reduced to smoking rubble, a crater that stretched over nearly thirty square miles. The ash and dust clouds in the air were so thick that she could barely see, and everyone had to wear respirators so that they could breathe.

"Those worldwide attacks, devastating as they were, were but the beginning, the initial salvo fired in the war. It would have been easy to give up, to lie down and let the Battalion take what they wanted. But we citizens of Paragon City, indeed of the whole of Earth, have never done anything the easy way."

There was another shout from the crowd, which surged forward, carrying Sera a few paces along with it. The mayor held up a hand to calm them. "But today is a day of remembrance. A day to remember all those that we lost, all that was taken from us. And a day to remember that we will not be broken by this. We will rebuild, we will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes. Together, we will stand again."

The applause started slowly, but quickly built to a deafening crescendo. Sera could see tears on the faces of the people around her, most of who were dressed in the sturdy clothes of construction workers. She wasn't sure that the rubble of Paragon City would ever be fully rebuilt, but the government was certainly putting in a good effort. She slipped her hands out of her pockets and joined in the applause.

On the stage, the mayor was waiting patiently for the crowd to quiet again. He had been joined at the microphone by one of the other suit-wearing guests, a tall woman whose brown hair was tied back into a neat bun at the nape of her neck. It was still several minutes before it was quiet enough for her to speak.

"Citizens of Paragon City, the United States, and all of Earth, it is my pleasure to introduce some of our heroes. These men and women worked tirelessly in the aftermath of the Battalion attacks to try to rescue victims, and then fought against the Battalion with all the strength they possessed. Please join me in thanking them for their efforts."

Another burst of cheers swept across the square as half the guests, the second group that had climbed onto the stage, stood and approached the microphone, led by the massive man with the blue skin. The woman waited for the applause to die down somewhat before introducing them. "Burning Mint, our Longguard liaison. He led one of the tactical response units that pushed the Battalion forces out of Boston." The man lifted a huge hand, acknowledging the shouts from the crowd. His fiery eyes scanned across the square and Sera hastily ducked down so she would be hidden behind the taller men and women around her. She knew that Mint didn't approve of her choice to keep herself hidden from the government. He thought she could do more good in the public eye, but she disagreed. She didn't want to waste her time talking endlessly in meeting rooms or shaking hands and kissing babies at public ceremonies. Hers wasn't a voice that would sway committees and gain followers. She served better in small ways.

The woman introduced the others, all heroes that Sera had known in passing, some she had fought or worked alongside, but no one she knew well. It wasn't until the last man stepped up, looking small and fragile in his grey suit, that she looked up again.

"And last, but certainly not least, Stephen Kantor, known as Psy-Kid, the leader of the Paragon City Search and Rescue organization. Psy-Kid took part in the final action against the Battalion, helping to defeat them for good." The applause was deafening as Psy lifted a slender hand and waved to the assembled crowd. Sera felt her eyes start to burn and blinked hastily to reassert control. She knew what Psy had sacrificed that day, even if most of the people around her didn't. The desperate last gamble against the Battalion had saved the planet, and countless lives, but it had burned the power out of him. He was now human, fully and completely. His healing abilities were gone.

She watched him on the stage, with the others. None of them had lost their powers, not completely the way that Psy had. He hadn't made the knowledge public, but most of the remaining superhero community knew. It was a hard secret to hide among those that knew you well. He looked uncomfortable, though whether it was from the adulation or the well-tailored suit she wasn't sure. She wasn't used to seeing him in anything other than his Search and Rescue uniform, the almost garish but highly noticeable orange and white costume that had been the hallmark of PCSAR. She had known him long enough to recognize that he looked like he would rather be anywhere else, but he kept his smile firmly in place as he stepped back to his seat with the others.

Mayor Lyon held up a hand for silence again, though the crowd was slower to respond this time. These people were literally heroes to them. Sera could hear one woman nearby talking about how a hero had pulled her from the wreckage of her apartment on the outskirts of Paragon City. She was one of the lucky ones. Almost no one at the epicentre of the Battalion attacks had survived.

"At this time," the mayor resumed once the crowd had quieted down, "I would like to have you join the other nations of the world in a moment of silence in remembrance of those lost to the Battalion attacks. We pause, we reflect, and we remember them."

The hiss of the speakers and the occasional cough and small shuffle of movement were the only sounds for a long, slow minute. Sera pressed her hands against the fabric of her jeans, missing the familiar sturdy texture of her PCSAR uniform under her fingers. She bowed her head, feeling a tear trickle down her face. She would probably never wear it again. With Psy's powers gone, she was one of the last. The group had never been large, but the Battalion War had devastated it. Out of the more than twenty active members from a year ago, Sera was the only one who had kept her life, her powers, and her sanity.

When the mayor cleared his throat to resume speaking, Sera ducked her head and turned away. She was nearly at the back of the crowd, so leaving the square wasn't difficult. She paused once she was free of the press of people and looked back. The rectangular space between the pre-fabricated public buildings was packed. It looked like nearly the entire population of the camp was there.

Titan Camp was the largest of the refugee camps set up after the initial Battalion attack. Survivors of the attacks on Paragon City and New York had made their way here, mostly in hastily organized convoys of civilian vehicles and the occasional troop transport. The government had started ferrying in supplies of food, water, and shelter though at that point it was mostly tents and dried rations, with the occasional pre-fabricated building scrounged or donated from somewhere. They wanted the civilian populations out of harm's way so the recovery and war efforts could proceed. The hilly, wooded area of northwestern Massachusetts was chosen as being near enough to easily move in supplies, but distant enough to keep them safe from any future fighting. Over the past year, the camp had grown from a disorderly collection of tents and poorly-organized rows of buildings to something much more permanent, thanks in large part to the hard work of the man who had since been named the interim mayor.

Sera slipped around a corner, out of sight of the crowd, though she could still hear the distorted sound of the mayor's amplified voice from the speakers. She wanted to remember the dead in her own way. She looked around but with everyone at the memorial service, the streets were empty. With a quick kick off the ground, she took to the air. She stayed low, just barely skimming over the tops of the buildings, until she reached the outskirts of the camp. The tall, thick trees that surrounded the camp gave her some cover and she glided upwards into the sky.

Off in the distance, south and east of her, she imagined she could see Paragon City as it used to be, with tall skyscrapers reflecting the midmorning sun. She blinked tears from her eyes and slipped her sunglasses off. Green fire flared from her eyes when she released her control over it. She let out a small sigh of relief. Suppressing that part of her abilities wasn't hard, as long as she remembered to do it, but it felt a bit like holding in her stomach for a long time. She was glad of the chance to let go for a few minutes.

She didn't stay above the trees for very long. The memorial service would be breaking up soon, and she didn't want to risk anyone catching sight of her. She didn't want to be in the public eye. She was done being a superhero. She had never been much of a fighter, and she had found a place here where she was appreciated for who she was, not adulated for what she was. She slipped her sunglasses back on and swooped down through the trees.

On the other side of the camp, she touched down to the ground and went on foot the rest of the way. The camp was divided into rough quarters, and this one was the furthest from the public quarter where the memorial service was taking place. It was primarily a residential area, with low two- and three-story pre-fabricated apartment buildings set up in neat rows. There were a few other buildings, small shops that offered basic foodstuffs for people who didn't want to make the trek to one of the other quarters if they only needed a couple of things or didn't want to eat in the public dining halls.

It also held a tiny medical clinic, run by an elderly man who had been a doctor for nearly six decades. Milan Ciernik had immigrated to the United States from the former Czechoslovakia with his family when he had been twelve, and had lived in Boston most of his life. It had given him an interesting accent, which the other workers at the clinic occasionally tried to imitate with varying degrees of success.

The streets, only recently paved, were empty as she headed for the clinic. The pre-fabricated buildings squatted in dull shades of tan, but some of the residents had made an effort to brighten up their living spaces with window boxes filled with flowers, or colourful curtains that fluttered in the light breeze. Here and there, a few people had actually painted their front doors. Sera passed a blue one and a yellow one before reaching the clinic.

The small building was two stories, with a pair of apartments upstairs for the doctor and his primary assistant. A small sign above the front door showed a hand-painted caduceus, twin snakes winding around a winged staff. The sign had been painted by one of the nurses, with one red snake and one orange one around the white-winged brown staff. Sera knew it was a nod to PCSAR's orange uniforms, even though no one ever mentioned it.

A bell above the door jangled when she pushed it open, and Abril looked up from the desk in the corner of the main room. The walls were a boring off-white, but were hung with numerous childish drawings that brightened the space. A small round table to the left of the door held blank paper and colouring supplies, and the clinic's younger visitors were always happy to see their art displayed prominently on the walls. Abril's makeshift desk was a pair of doors held up by plastic crates to form an L-shaped space in the far corner. She had a computer and a row of filing cabinets to hold patient records, and there was a double row of chairs that took up most of the rest of the space in the waiting room.

"Is the memorial service over already?" Abril asked as Sera walked into the otherwise empty room. She was a tall, slender middle-aged woman, her black hair showing only a few strands of grey. She tended to wear it short, but had been growing it out over the past few months. The movement of tucking it behind her ears was quickly becoming an unconscious habit.

"Nearly, I think," Sera said, pushing the door closed behind her and taking off her sunglasses. "It was winding down when I left. Is Milan around?"

"In the back, with a patient," Abril replied.

"Anything serious?" Sera settled herself into the chair in front of Abril's makeshift desk. Today, the receptionist was wearing pale blue scrubs covered in multicoloured cupcakes. She had a dozen different sets, each more colourful than the last.

Abril shook her head. "Someone worrying too much, I think. But you can talk to the doc when he's done."

Sera slouched down, crossing her legs at the ankles. They didn't usually deal with any really severe illnesses or injuries here, as there was a proper hospital in the public quarter. They mostly saw kids with sore throats and the occasional recovery and construction workers with sprains and strains. She knew she could be doing more at the Titan Camp hospital, but she liked the quiet and anonymity of Milan's clinic. It helped that the staff and community here were fiercely protective of her. Her healing abilities were an open secret, never spoken of but always acknowledged. The past few months here had done more to relax her after the Battalion War than anything else she could imagine.

"Anything happen this morning?"

"Just the usual," Abril replied. "A sprained wrist, and a kid who fell off his bike and needed a couple of stitches in his chin. Nothing serious."

"Does the doc want me to have a look at anything?"

Abril gave her a soft smile. "I know you want to be busy today, Sera, but maybe you should just take a break. It's a rough day for everyone. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling."

Sera shook her head, blowing out a frustrated breath. "I _need_ to be busy, Abril. I need to be helping. I need to do something."

The words were barely out of her mouth when she registered a faint sound from outside. She was on her feet in an instant, half airborne as she rushed for the door. She wrenched it open and felt a chill run down her spine. It was the distant sound of screams.

"Something's happening," Sera called over her shoulder towards Abril. "I'm going to go check it out."

She barely heard Abril call, "Be careful!" as she launched herself out the door and into the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of forgot that Chapter One ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, sorry! ;) Here's the next bit, to tide people over for a little while. I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to update this - technically the story is done, but it's only the first draft. I'm working on revising it, but have a lot on my plate in the next month or two!

Once in the air, Sera could see smoke rising over the public quarter. Green fire flared from her eyes as she pushed herself as hard as she could. She could tell even from this distance that it was coming from the site of the memorial service.

At top speed, it only took her a couple of minutes to close the distance. Her desire to stay hidden was nothing compared to her need to help, and she didn't care who saw her now. The crowd had panicked and was pressed up against the stage, trying to get away from the chaos at the other end of the square. A cluster of uniformed police officers were surrounding the prone figure of a man, a pair of them helping to hold him down as he thrashed wildly.

One of the buildings across the street was on fire, flames and smoke climbing thickly into the sky. She could hear sirens from a few streets away as fire crews rushed to the scene. Geotherm, the tall thin man with skin like coals was already there, hands outstretched and jaw clenched as he tried to exert some control over the flames. The oily scent of burning plastic made Sera cough, and she veered away as the breeze blew the smoke towards her.

The man on the ground broke free from the police with a scream, blasts of fire shooting from his hands. One of the officers was caught square in the chest and was thrown backwards. Sera reacted instinctively, diving towards the downed woman, hands already glowing green.

The rest of the officers fell back, hands going for their weapons. The man screamed again, another blast of fire shooting from his outstretched hands. Sera ducked as the flames shot by overhead. She got her hands on the injured woman just as the ground shook hard enough to nearly knock her over.

Burning Mint had arrived, his landing cracking the pavement. One massive fist caught the man's left hand even as another fire blast seemed about to erupt. The blue-skinned man grunted, but his own internal fire meant that the heat didn't affect him. He struck out with his free hand, catching the man on the chin. The next fire blast fizzled as the attacker slumped unconscious to the ground.

The fire department arrived just then, adding more chaos to the scene. Sera ducked her head and concentrated on the police officer whose life she was trying to save. The damage was extensive, but Sera was able to keep ahead of it. Her healing abilities flowed through the woman, mending the horrific burns on her chest and face, leaving unblemished skin behind.

"You're okay," Sera said, catching the woman's flailing hand. "I've got you. You're going to be fine."

The woman stared up at her with wide eyes. Sera knew that her own eyes were blazing green, bleeding energy out into the air. She could usually control it, but it was hard when she had to use her power to this extent. "You're..."

Sera shook her head quickly. "Just someone helping the best they can. You need to get up now," she said, gesturing to the teams of firefighters focusing their efforts on the nearby blaze. "They need some space. Can you walk?" She helped the woman to stand, and nudged her gently towards the other police officers who were handcuffing the man that Burning Mint had subdued. One of the officers caught sight of her and waved her over, and Sera quickly turned away. She could hear other cries of pain from the crowd that was still packed into the square.

*****

She wasn't sure how much later it was when she looked up for her next patient and found no one else waiting. Workers from the Titan Camp Hospital had shown up minutes after the fire crews and had hastily set up a triage tent. As soon as they realized that Sera was a Healer they had quickly put her to work on the worst cases. There were many people with various degrees of burns, and more who had had bones broken in the panicked crush to get away from the man who was throwing fire into the crowd.

Sera sank down onto the cot she had been using to treat the injured and dropped her head into her hands. She was exhausted and drained. She didn't even have the energy left to control the green radiance of her eyes, and her little corner of the tent glowed faintly. She heard a soft footstep behind her and nearly sobbed. She wasn't sure she had the power left to treat anyone else right now.

"We're all clear," said a very familiar voice from behind her. "You handled all the major traumas. They're sending a couple of people to the hospital overnight for observation, but everyone else has been patched up and sent home." Psy's hand squeezed her shoulder firmly and she looked up at him.

His sunglasses were gone, his carefully combed hair in disarray. He was carrying his suit jacket in one hand and the sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows. His hands and arms were scrubbed clean, but he still had a few drops of blood and smears of soot on his white shirt. Even without his healing abilities, he was a capable surgeon. She wasn't surprised to find that he had been helping.

"Did we lose anyone?" Sera asked, voice hoarse from shouting orders for the last several hours.

Psy shook his head, sitting down on the cot beside her. She often forgot how young he was, but he was actually only around the same height as she was. His genius-level intellect meant that he had finished his medical degree around the same time as his peers were done with high school. "No. The worst was that policewoman, but you got to her in time. Good work on that, by the way."

Sera let out a sigh of relief, closing her eyes and leaning her shoulder against Psy's. The muscles in her arms, shoulders, and back were sore and tight, but she didn't even have enough energy left to heal herself. "I should get going. I need to get home."

"Will you be okay?" She could hear the concern in Psy's voice. "I can go with you."

She shook her head. She knew Psy meant well, but she just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. She looked down at her hands, blood and soot caked into the creases in her skin, and amended that to a shower and then bed. "It's not far. I can make it." She stood slowly, tired muscles protesting, but she didn't wobble. "Thanks."

She could tell that Psy wanted to say more, but she had heard it all before. He knew her reasons for staying out of the public eye, though that would be harder after this. But she couldn't have stood by and let anyone suffer, if she was able to help. The Titan Camp Hospital workers were very good at their jobs, but they only had a pair of low-level Healers on staff, no one of Sera's calibre.

Someone cleared their throat just past the curtain that hid her corner from the rest of the tent, and then a woman tentatively poked her head around. "Ma'am? I just wanted to tell you that we're done here. All the injured have been taken care of." She smiled shyly at Sera. "And I wanted to thank you for your help. We might have lost a few without you."

Sera smiled back. "I'm just glad I was able to help."

"You were a big help," the woman replied. Her hospital scrubs were wrinkled and dirty, and some of her hair had come out of her ponytail. "Here, you look like you could use this." She held out a bottle of water and a power bar, as well as a set of pale green scrubs. Sera looked down at her green t-shirt and jeans. They were filthy, covered in blood and ash and soot. "But you should probably wash up first. There's clean water out here." She jerked her head back, indicating the main part of the tent.

"Thanks..." Sera hesitated, unsure of the woman's name.

"Mary," she interjected. "And it's nothing, really. You're the hero here."

Sera shook her head quickly. "I'm really not. You guys did so much more than I did."

Mary's lips quirked in a smile and she shook her head but didn't object. "Come wash up, then have a bite to eat. You look like you could sleep for a week."

Bemused, Sera followed the woman back to the main part of the tent. Psy's hand was warm and firm on her lower back when she hesitated. The entire medical staff was staring at her, some in awe, some in gratitude. She didn't like being the centre of attention. She wished she had the energy to dampen down the green glow from her eyes. It just made her stand out more.

True to Mary's word, there was hot water and soap. It took several minutes for Sera to scrub her hands and arms clean, and she pretended to ignore the way that everyone's eyes stayed focused on her. There was a small mirror hanging above the sink and she tried to ignore the reflected glow of the energy seeping from her eyes as she washed her face and neck. She ducked behind a curtain set up beside the portable sink to quickly change into the clean scrubs, and bundled her filthy clothes under one arm. Clean and presentable again, she took the food and water that Mary held out with a mumble of thanks. Psy tucked his arm through hers and led her towards the door of the tent.

She let out a huge breath of relief once they were outside. The firefighters were gone, though there was still caution tape cordoning off the end of the scorched building. It didn't look like it had taken too much damage, probably thanks to their quick response, and Geotherm's presence. The rest of the square was sparsely populated. There were a few police officers keeping the curious at bay, and a team of public workers dismantling the stage. Small knots of people stood clustered around, staring at the fire-damaged building and the scorched, cracked pavement where Burning Mint had taken down the man responsible for the damage.

Sera got more than a few curious glances as she hastily downed the water and energy bar, but Psy's presence seemed to reassure them that everything was under control. He had become a fairly recognizable public figure since the Battalion attacks. He had been the leader of Paragon City's largest search and rescue team, after all, and since the loss of his powers he had become heavily involved in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

She dug her phone out of her pocket to check the time. It was only mid-afternoon, but it felt like it should be much later. She wondered if everyone was okay at the clinic. She hadn't treated anyone she had recognized, but it was still possible that some of them had been hurt in the attack. "I should..."

"You should go home," Psy interrupted. "This is all over the news. No one will be expecting you anywhere. You need some sleep."

Sera made a face. So much for keeping a low profile. At least no reporters had been allowed in the medical tent. She looked around again, belatedly checking for camera crews, but it seemed they were all gone. The exciting part of the story was over. Now it would be talking heads and analysts.

"Go home," Psy repeated firmly. "Sleep. Eat something. Relax. Don't turn on the television - you don't need to relive it. Everything else will wait until tomorrow."

She dredged up a fond smile. "You're not the boss of me," she teased, then gave him a quick hug. "Thanks, Psy. Take care of yourself."

"I will. You too. I'll... see you around I guess?"

Sera winced at the hesitation in his voice. She knew she hadn't been around as much as she should have been, since the Battalion War had ended. "I'll call you," she promised, ignoring how sceptical Psy looked as she turned away. This was one of the longest conversations they had had in months.

The walk to her apartment had never seemed so long. Titan Camp was nowhere near as large as Paragon City had been, but it was still sizeable. There was even talk of making it a permanent home for those displaced by the Battalion attacks. Some of the refugees had left over the past year, moving across the country and around the world, following jobs and family connections, but most had stayed. Many had lost everything and everyone they had known, and had nowhere else to go.

Sera's apartment was in a two-story building a few streets away from the clinic. She slipped her sunglasses back on to help disguise the green glow that she still hadn't quite managed to control, but no one was paying attention to a lone woman heading home. Nearly every conversation she overheard was about the attack at the memorial service. It sounded like there wasn't much official information being released, and speculation was running rampant through the camp. Sera heard people talking about supervillains, terrorists, and even alien attacks.

She was so tired when she got to her one-room apartment that she dropped right into bed without even taking off her borrowed scrubs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, the editing process is taking a really long time. But I figured I should at least get the next chapter up for the 10-year anniversary of City of Heroes!

Sera slept right through to the next morning and woke up blinking in the light of the sun coming through her window. She hadn't even thought to pull the blinds shut before she had fallen asleep the afternoon before. She rolled over to stretch thoroughly, feeling her sore muscles protest. A light pulse of healing took care of the last of the tension and she sat up with a yawn, scrubbing one hand through her short brown hair. She felt much better this morning, her body's healing abilities having recharged themselves with the rest.

She pulled the blinds shut on her way to the bathroom. Her window looked directly into the next apartment, and the young mother and her two children didn't need to see her getting changed. A hot shower and a quick breakfast had her refreshed for the day.

The clinic was a short walk, but she heard more speculation about the previous day's attack on her way there. It didn't sound like there had been any new information released, and she tried to tune out the more outrageous rumours.

Abril looked up from her computer when the door opened and a look of relief swept over her face. She shook her head quickly when Sera opened her mouth, jerking her chin at the young family sitting at the table with the colouring books. The youngest daughter was asleep in the father's arms, and a young boy, maybe around three or so, was studiously scribbling away on a large sheet of paper, occasionally demanding different colours of crayons from his mother.

Sera smiled when the parents looked up and headed for the door to the exam rooms. Abril hopped up to follow her, keeping the door partially propped open so she could keep an eye on the waiting room. "What happened? Are you all right?"

Sera patted the other woman on the arm soothingly. "I'm fine, Abril. There was an attack, at the memorial service. I stayed to help the medics, and then went home."

"We figured." Abril glanced back into the waiting room when the young boy laughed. "What happened? There hasn't been much on the news. Most of the cameras were nearer the stage, and didn't have a good angle through the crowd."

"There was a man who was shooting fire," Sera said, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. "The police and some of the heroes there for the service took him down, and Geotherm helped the fire department to get things under control. I don't know what happened after that - I was in the medical tent. What's the news saying? I've only heard what folks are saying on the street."

Abril reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Pretty much nothing. Loads of speculation, but nothing concrete. Longguard's got it locked down tight, and they're not talking."

"Longguard took him?" Sera asked, surprised. "He was in police custody when the medics showed up."

Abril gave her an incredulous look. "You think the police want someone who can shoot fire? Of course Longguard took him."

Sera closed her eyes briefly. She was used to the Paragon City Police Department, who had officers and facilities set up to handle superpowered criminals. But in Titan Camp, and after the Battalion War, there just weren't enough superhumans left to work on a regular police force. Most of the remaining superhumans were working directly with governments, like the members of Longguard.

Longguard had been put together from the remains of Longbow, an organization that had been a military support network for the superheroes of Paragon City, and Vanguard, which had been implemented by the United Nations Security Council to help coordinate the worldwide superhuman population against the alien Rikti when they had first invaded in the early 2000s. Both groups had been decimated during the Battalion War, as the Battalion had specifically targeted their bases. During the three months of fighting before the Battalion had been destroyed, the remains of the two organizations had found themselves working together more often than not. Both had resources that were of great help in coordinating the resistance. Some pundit had taken to calling them "Longguard", and the name had stuck.

Many of the heroes that survived the destruction of Paragon City and the ensuing war had joined Longguard once the Battalion was destroyed. The organization now boasted the largest group of surviving superheroes in the Western hemisphere. They had been actively trying to recruit Sera too, before she had vanished into a more civilian life. She just wasn't interested in being part of a paramilitary organization. She wanted full say over how she used her powers, like she had had in PCSAR. She didn't want anyone dictating who she helped based on some politician's or general's assessment of the situation.

She shook herself out of her memories. "And no one knows who he is?" That in itself was unusual these days. The global superpowered population had shrunk so much that it was hard to hide in the crowd, so to speak. Anyone with powers who showed them in public was quickly made famous on social media and the mainstream news. Sera was lucky that the people who lived in her area were willing to stay quiet about her. She thought maybe they got a kick out of it - having a secret that no one else knew about.

Abril shook her head. "No one's saying, if they do. But there's no really good pictures of his face. All the cameras were too far away."

Sera shook her head, nudging Abril back towards the waiting room when she heard the front door open. "There's no sense standing around gossiping. We've got work to do."

The other woman laughed and slipped back into the main room. Sera could hear her greeting the new arrival as the door slipped closed, but their voices were muffled and indistinct. She turned her back on the waiting room and moved deeper into the clinic.

A long hallway stretched the length of the building. A door at the far end led to Doctor Ciernik's private office and the staff lounge that doubled as a makeshift kitchen. Four doors, two on each side of the hall, opened onto exam rooms. One of them was closed, and she could hear Milan's deep voice from behind the door. She didn't want to disturb him while he was with a patient, so she headed for the far door.

The lounge took up most of the space at the back of the building, a comfortable space filled with a pair of second-hand couches, some plain wooden chairs, and a table that had seen better days. One of the legs had a piece of paper folded underneath it to keep it from wobbling. A counter in the corner held a sink, a coffeemaker, a microwave, and a toaster, and a small fridge hummed quietly next to it. Two closed doors led to a small bathroom and to Doctor Ciernik's office. She left the door to the lounge partly open and settled down on one of the couches. There were a few magazines on the low table beside it, and she flipped idly through one of them while she waited for Milan to finish with his patient.

It was another ten minutes before she heard the door open and Milan chattering cheerfully with his patient as he ushered her out. The door to the waiting room opened and closed, and then Sera heard his footsteps heading for the lounge. She tossed the magazine aside as he pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside.

"It's good to see you safe," he said, his smile emphasizing the wrinkles on his face. "I knew you would be; you can take care of yourself. But an old man worries."

Sera laughed and pushed herself to her feet to give him a careful hug. He was barely taller than her own five-foot frame and his thin bones felt fragile under her hands. He wore his thick white hair combed up and back from his high forehead. "Softie," she told him fondly. He treated the staff as if they were his children, though he had never had any of his own. "Everything okay here?"

"We manage, without you!" Milan chuckled, sitting down carefully in one of the straight-backed wooden chairs. She knew that his joints had started to ache, and hated that there was nothing she could do to halt the aging process in others. She gave his hands a squeeze and he frowned at her when he felt the gentle pulse of energy she sent through him to help alleviate some of the pain, at least temporarily. "You should be resting. I am sure you overexerted yourself yesterday. You young people never learn how to pace yourselves."

Sera hid a smile, not bothering to correct his assumption. Just because she couldn't stop others from aging didn't mean that her own body aged the same way as theirs. Her innate healing abilities had frozen her in her mid-20s, as near as she could tell. Aside from the green energy that poured from her eyes and the changing hair and makeup styles over the decades, the face that she saw in the mirror still looked the same as it had that late-August morning in 1940 when Serafina Ashleigh Shaw had snuck into a British Hurricane to engage the German planes attacking the air base where she was employed as a nurse.

She had learned to fly from her uncle, an eccentric millionaire before the war, but she had never been in a dogfight before. She held her own for a short time, damaging one of the German Messerschmitt fighters before taking heavy damage herself. She tried to make it back to the airfield but crashed a few hundred metres short of the runway. It surprised her as much as her rescuers when she was able to walk away from the crash, her broken bones and burns healing nearly instantly, and her eyes changing from their original deep brown to a bright, clear green. From that day forward, she had had a decidedly different role in the combat.

"I slept half of yesterday, and all night. I'm feeling fine today, Doc," she said, poking him gently in the shoulder. "Do you need any help today?"

"Do you think you could go and visit Ling and her baby? I think he might have pneumonia, but she won't listen when I say to take him to the hospital."

"Yes, of course I can." Sera shook her head and sighed. Ling was a single mother, her husband killed during the Battalion attack on New York. Little Jian had been only a few months old, and would never know his father. Ling's husband had been the English-speaker in the family, and Ling barely knew enough of the language to greet people. She was learning, but it was a slow process. She had latched onto Milan as the only doctor she needed, and refused any suggestion that an illness or injury was too severe for their little clinic and needed to be treated at the hospital. Sera had already covertly healed a broken wrist Ling had suffered when she fell on the ice during the first cold winter at Titan Camp, and now it looked like the woman's stubbornness was potentially endangering her young son as well. Sera reminded herself again to try to find a translator somewhere in the camp. It was hard, though, as no one at the clinic knew for sure which Chinese dialect Ling spoke.

Ling lived on the far side of the quarter from the clinic, and Sera took a small bag of medicine as her excuse for the visit. With the difficulty they had in communicating with Ling, she wasn't sure if the woman understood Sera's desire to keep her abilities secret. She walked up the stairs to the third floor and knocked on Ling's door. She could hear Jian crying from inside, interspersed with wracking coughs, and hid a wince as the door opened.

She smiled at Ling, who looked harried, but gratified to see her. "Sera, hello," she said in her strong accent. She stepped aside and waved Sera inside quickly. "Hello, hi." The apartment was bigger than Sera's single room, with an open-plan living space and kitchen, two bedrooms, and a shared bathroom between them. It was sparsely furnished, and messy with half-folded clothes stacked on the couch. Ling looked like she hadn't slept much in the past few days.

"Hi, Ling," Sera said, mostly to the woman's back as she went to pick up her crying toddler. She bounced him gently on her shoulder, singing softly to him to try to calm him. "I brought medicine, from Doctor Ciernik." She held up the bag, and Ling's shoulders went limp with relief.

"Will make better?" she asked hopefully, and Sera nodded.

She set the bag on the kitchen table and pulled out the bottle of medicine. It was actually paediatric vitamins, but Ling wouldn't know that it was Sera that had healed Jian and not the medicine. "Here, I'll show you." She had packed a piece of blank paper too, and drew three clock faces on it. She pointed to the drawings, and then to the clock hanging by the window. Ling looked confused for a moment, then nodded in sudden understanding. Sera drew hands on the clock, morning, noon, and evening. She drew a sun beside the first two, and a crescent moon next to the third. Ling's face was creased in concentration, nodding slowly.

Next to each clock, Sera drew the bottle of medicine, and a spoon. When Ling shook her head, pointing at the spoon, Sera laughed and stepped into the kitchen. "Sorry, my drawing isn't very good. It's a spoon," she said, pulling one out of the drying rack beside the sink. She set it beside the bottle of medicine and Ling's face cleared and she nodded in understanding. "One spoonful," she said, tapping the spoon and then the bottle, and holding up one finger, then touching each clock in turn.

Ling nodded in understanding, smiling broadly at Sera. "Thank you, thanks, yes."

"You're welcome," Sera said with a smile, picking up the bottle and opening it. She touched the middle clock, since it was nearly noon by now, and carefully poured out one spoonful. Ling turned Jian in her arms, speaking gently to him until he looked up at Sera with huge, sad eyes. He opened his mouth obediently and Sera carefully inserted the spoon. She was glad that the medicine didn't taste too bad and Jian didn't object to it. She cupped a hand gently around the back of his head and trickled her healing energy slowly into him. If she was careful and worked slowly, she could heal without showing it, either from her hands or her eyes. Jian was small, and thankfully the illness hadn't gotten too solid of a grip on him, and it was easy enough to chase away. He closed his eyes and burrowed into his mother's neck when she was done, and she took the spoon to the sink to wash.

Jian was asleep in moments. Her healing often made young children sleepy, Sera had noticed, though she wasn't quite sure why. Most adults weren't affected that way, but the younger the child the more likely they were to fall asleep after a healing. Ling gave Sera a shallow bow and padded on quiet feet into one of the bedrooms. Sera caught a glimpse of a crib and a bright red dragon mobile in the darkened room. She added a smiley face to the paper on the table and let herself out quietly when Ling started singing a lullaby.


End file.
